Bradley Strawser comes back to clarify a few things about the morality of drone warfare. In a previous article in The Guardian, Strawser’s words were manipulated, wrongly interpreted, and morphed into portraying his ideologies as pro-drone warfare under any condition and that drone warfare had no immoral side to it. However, Strawser corrects this misinterpretation.
Though the topic of morality and drone warfare is a sensitive and difficult one, Strawser seems to do his best to think rationally, logically, and fairly about the issue, and to present his beliefs as clearly as possible. After reading the entire article it is noticeable that Strawser focuses on three main points: drones can be morally preferable if the attack is morally justified, the drones are precise in their attacks, and if they do less harm to their operator.
Strawser’s does not cite any official studies, articles, or statistics to support his claims but merely uses opinion and his own knowledge. He stresses the importance of morally justifying acts of war before attacking, “if a military action is morally justified, we are also morally bound to ensure that it is carried out with as little harm to innocent people as possible.” This is the basis of his argument. Even though a drone may be immoral in principle, just like landmines, as he states in his article, since it is another weapon that cannot distinguish from friend or foe, innocent and guilty, one may use the weapon when necessary. Augustine is quoted, “let necessity, therefore, and not your will, slay the enemy who fights against you” meaning that even though killing and taking a life is a regrettable, distasteful act, there are some instances in modern warfare which calls for killing as a means of survival as well as for the collective greater good of the people.
The Essay on Heart Attacks
A heart attack occurs when the blood supply to a portion of the heart muscle is severely reduced or stopped. This happens when one of the arteries that supply blood to the heart muscle is blocked by an obstruction. This blockage can be due to a condition called atherosclerosis (a build up of fatty like substance along the wall of the artery), a blood clot or a coronary vessel spasm along with a ...
Though Strawser presents a balanced opinion, one which is well thought-out and sensible, the argument about the morality of drones still goes further. Strawser argues that drone attacks can be justified if their means for killing or intent is justified, while I think differently. Drones are deadly things that are immoral in principle and immoral in act. Robots designed for destruction, with no sense of judgement are what we are trust to be rid of terrorists forever. Can we trust the people who are controlling these mindless weapons of annihilation? No, because issues with drones in all their artificial intelligence and signature strikes, which will be looked into later, have arisen for years already and still affect the death count of civilians today, most recently in Pakistan. Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV), popularly known as drones, are exactly what their title depicts them to be. Drones are a sort of pilotless aircraft that is controlled by remote by someone on the ground, or they follow a preprogrammed flight path. According to the Bureau of Investigative Journalism, from June 2004 until mid-September 2012, between 2,562 and 3,325 people were killed, in which 474-881 were innocent civilians – men, women, and children, in Pakistan by drones that were sent to take down high level militants in the first place.
How many militants have been taken down? The numbers are unclear, but the Stanford Law School and New York University’s Law School concluded that the amount of dangerous militants killed only amounts to 2% of total drone victims. The issue is that these drones operate through artificial intelligence. They are blind to who they are affecting and are literally just robots built to destroy. What happens when an unsuspecting innocent man is outside, and is wrongly targeted by a drone? He can wave and surrender but the drone will not stop until its mission is complete, which violates Protocol I of the Geneva Conventions which specifically states that anyone who expresses a true intent to surrender cannot be attacked if: (a) he is in the power of an adverse Party;
The Term Paper on Afghan War to Drone Attacks: Legality Under Ihl
Introduction: Since the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001,And American starting Global War on Terror and attacks on Afghanistan in persuit of AL-QAEDA and TALIBAN as they were alleged to be involved in attacks of 9/11.Pakistan being a neighboring state also got effected by this war and a series of Suicide bombing started due to Pakistan’s alliance with American as frontline strategic partner ...
(b) he clearly expresses an intention to surrender; or
(c) he has been rendered unconscious or is otherwise incapacitated by wounds or sickness, and therefore is incapable of defending himself. Another problem with drones is the issue of “signature strikes”. Signature strikes, by definition, are drone attacks on people who are only suspected to be dangerous. The military may have no information on them, names, age, occupation, etc. if they suspect them, they kill them. Just to be safe, right? How do we make a proper judgement as to who is a threat and who is not? An article in the New York Times describes this beautifully, “the joke was that when the C.I.A. sees ‘three guys doing jumping jacks,’ the agency thinks it is a terrorist training camp, said one senior official. Men loading a truck with fertilizer could be bombmakers — but they might also be farmers, skeptics argued.” This sort of mentality is unfortunately more than just a joke, and it costs many lives of many innocent people. Referring to the diagram below (Figure 1), which shows the North Waziristan district and all areas in which drones have hit. The circles around the white dots which represent there the drones crashed exactly, are the radius from the crashing point which are also affected by the drone attacks and conjure fatal results for those who may be too far away from the targeted area to even have a clue of the drones attack.
(Figure 1) A diagram of the drone attacks in North Waziristan, Pakistan from 2008-2012. The deaths of innocent individuals is not the only issue, there is the aftermath as well, a long-lasting, psychological impact that tortures the mind whilst having a troubled heart dealing with the losses within the family or community. The study conducted by Stanford Law School and New York University’s Law School mentioned earlier touches on the issue of the impact drones have on the Pakistani population beyond physical injury, “drones hover twenty-four hours a day over communities in northwest Pakistan, striking homes, vehicles, and public spaces without warning. Their presence terrorizes men, women, and children, giving rise to anxiety and psychological trauma among civilian communities.” It is also mentioned that drone attacks have killed off many humanitarian workers and anyone helping with aid, and has now scared the remaining helpers causing them to shy away from assisting the injured. Communities are afraid of forming groups in case of attracting any attention from drones, which have affected cultural and religious practices; including having funerals for those they have lost. Children have dropped out of school, sometimes through their parents making them stay home out of fear of their well-being.
The Essay on The Crucible Innocent People
The Crucible The Crucible is a play written by Arthur Miller. It is about a time of everyday people who use lying as a weapon while saying they are pure and religious. This story is a prime example of how people will do anything to get what they want, even if it means hurting other people. This story is about a handful of girls who use other people to save themselves. These girls were caught ...
The morality of drones and drone use is not much of a question once presented with facts and evidence of the heinous crimes committed using such weapons and the impact it has on innocent civilians. There are hundreds of lives that are lost and their families will never get them back. Children are deprived of parents and parents deprived of their children. There should be no tolerance for signature strikes and what psychological harm it causes people. For those reasons, the use of drones is immoral, unnecessary, and can be replaced for the sake of the innocent people.